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Ben Bradshaw’s defence of Abominable Ali’s disastrous attempt to wipe out the BBC is thrown into sharp relief by one of the millions of documents submitted to Lord Hutton’s inquiry.

It comes from Kevin Marsh, Today editor and boss of Andrew Gilligan who broke the Kelly story. Marsh, it transpires, also used to be Bradshaw’s boss, and if it comes to a competition of ethics between Bradshaw and the Goon, it’s clear that Marsh doesn’t think Bradshaw would score too highly.

Bradshaw, now an oh-so-junior minister, took to the airwaves to attack the Goon for relying on a single source for his scoop.

But Marsh responded in a private e-mail to Stephen Whittle, BBC controller of editorial policy: “We’re reluctant to take lessons in BBC procedures from a man who was an active member of the Labour party and nursed a constituency for many months in 1996/7 without informing his